Devastator
Few sights inspire the troops of the Khadoran Empire—or demoralize their enemies—like the appearance of an advancing '''Devastator '''also known as the “Bloody Bulwark” by Cygnaran troops. Lumbering forward like a walking fortress, this warjack is implacable. Even concentrated artillery fire only causes the Devastator to stagger a bit before reaching its target and deploying its catastrophic ordnance.Forces of Warmachine: Khador Command MK3No Quarter #26 The Devastator is equipped with an array of powerful short-range grenade launchers that can reduce the enemy to smoking ruin. Because these can be fired only while its carapace is open, unleashing its full destructive power exposes vital machinery. To compensate, the grenades are timed to explode in rapid succession, ensuring that the air around the ’jack is filled with deadly shrapnel for a few protracted moments. The blasts ravage enemy troops and can split the armor of warjacks at close range. The result is what its designers proudly call the “Rain of Death". History Despite their vaunted armor, Khadoran warjacks suffered ongoing losses against concentrated fire and long range capabilities of Cygnaran Defenders and long gunners. In the 590s Khadoran mechaniks expressed their eagerness to implement a number of expensive long-ranged warjack weapon prototype projects, but the High Kommand quickly put a stop to this. With the treasury already strained and Queen Ayn Vanar stressing practical solutions to military problems, a different stratagem was implemented. Instead Queen Ayn ordered the mechaniks to create a massively armored heavy warjack that could survive long enough to close with the enemy and thereby annihilate them en masse. Such a ’jack could function without the need for advanced and expensive cortexes, relying instead on the raw materials that Khador had in abundance. This direct approach played to the strengths of Khadoran warjack doctrine and knowledge. Khadoran mechaniks first attempted to modify the Juggernaut chassis, but everything pointed to the existing chassis being unsuitable for the Devastator’s intended purpose. A new chassis was hastily drafted, simpler than the Juggernaut and focused less on range of movement and more on infrastructure to support the immense weight of the new warjack. The initial cost of setting up new production facilities was deemed acceptable when balanced against the reduced cost and time involved in constructing the new chassis in bulk and the gains from utilizing lower-grade cortexes. The project was given permission to proceed. The mighty warjack’s shield-clad fists were deemed effective enough for melee purposes. Its primary armament is a cluster of grenade launchers integrated into the warjack’s frame, making it easy to accommodate large ammunition reserves. The launchers are set within the thickest section of the Devastator’s chassis, providing it with plenty of space for storage of large ammunition reserves. These grenade launchers are simple, easy to maintain, relatively cheap, and extremely reliable compared to more complex weapon systems. More importantly, when launched in sequenced barrages in all directions around the warjack, the Devastator’s grenades can utterly ravage anything in the warjack’s vicinity. The main drawbacks of this “Rain of Death” are its indiscriminate nature and the fact that it cannot be deployed unless the warjack has unlocked and extended its arms. On the positive side, although the Devastator cannot fire its grenades with its shield fists interlocked, it can still use its grenade launchers even if its arms are disabled. Additionally, since these projectiles are fired blind there was no need to upgrade the Devastator’s cortex to accommodate the weapon. However early prototypes of the Devastator proved unstable on even slightly steep grades and too heavy to function well in the unpredictable conditions of the battlefield. Cost and resource constraints made the Khadoran Mechaniks’ Assembly unable to scrap the design and start over. They instead trimmed down the Devastator’s torso armor, reasoning that its interlocking shield fists would provide all the torso protection the warjack needed. The reduction in weight made it battlefield-worthy but distinctly more vulnerable when attacking targets in melee, a trade-off that was deemed regrettable but necessary. The simplicity of the Devastator’s overall design allowed Khador to manufacture the warjack at an accelerated pace, and the first finished Devastator thundered onto the battlefield for the Motherland near the end of 598 AR. Khadoran officers quickly saw the benefits of the new warjack design despite the Devastator’s vulnerability once opened and engaged in battle. It is not uncommon for several Devastators to be arrayed as a walking shield to cover an advance. Such a wall is difficult ,if not impossible to stop, especially when combined with ManO-War Shocktroopers with their shields raised. Cygnaran battlefield accounts have testified to the terror inspired by such an approaching wall of death, compounded when the arms open to unleash countless fragmentation grenades. The Devastator has served admirably. It was put to particularly effective use on the battlefields near Northguard in 607 AR. Surrounded by mud and barbed wire, the Winter Guard had been pinned down by a continuous barrage of fire from Cygnaran chain guns. The Khadorans could do little to stop the steady attrition. Only the timely deployment of several Devastators alleviated their plight. The mobile cover the warjacks provided enabled the beleaguered Winter Guard forces to emerge from their trenches and advance from what had been a largely hopeless position. References Category:Warmachine Category:Khador Category:Warjack